nonpartisan commission to crack down on voter suppression. recalling the story of a miami bottom who waited six hours to cast her ballot. >> hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line to support her because desalien is 102 years old. and they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read. "i voted. >> he pitched the idea of universal preschool to assure that every child, regardless of income begins life on equal footing. >> i propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in america. >> and in perhaps his most notable proposal, the president urged congress to raise the minimum wage, stage can make the difference between groceries and the food bank. >> tonight, let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on earth no one who works full time should have to live in poverty

and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. chuck, political director, guru of all things related to washington and the presidency, this is being positioned as a pivot to the economy. but really, i saw it as the third installment of the sort of broad, moral vision the president has for the country. this just had more policy specifics than, say, the election night speech pour the inaugural. >> frankly, it would have been seen as a run-of-the-mill state of the union. it would not have been getting that much opinion or lead attention had it not been for the last ten minutes of the speech. the last ten minutes of the speech sort of change -- frank list, stepped on the original message. what the president is going to sell today, in georgia and what he's going to for the next six months. because what the state of the union is is essentially the playbook of what he's outlining of what he wants to try to sell,

but let's -- you know, i think you can't talk about the state of the union other than the last ten minutes because what was amazing about it in this respect. he got members of congress to act like a congregation. he got members of -- and they got caught up in the moment. i saw jeff sessions, is this not a person who has been very supportive of the president in many things. he stood up and applauded and was looking for the 102-year-old woman. you saw him. saw the picture. i've not seen this sort of emotion, it sort of reminded you and why people get frustrated with president obama, he had unifiability when he puts his mind to it. and wants to be unified in some things and that last ten minutes -- >> well, the last ten minutes focusing on those victims of gun violence who deserve a vote. he's been actually, i think, very great in sort of wrapping his arms around emotion of gun violence and sort of presenting

that to the country in a way that isn't divisive and politically charged. and as you said, chuck -- >> low political bar. give a vote. >> just stand up and be counted. let people whether you're for or against him. i read through the speech quickly before when he got it just before he delivered it. and sigh remember thinking, i wish -- there's such a lot of stuff that's so dry. you're going to lose the audience. did people actually make it to the last ten minutes? he saved the crescendo to the end. a classic obama. there was nothing left out, immigration, housing. >> and he led with -- which i thought was -- >> skwelead with sequester and finish -- >> lead with sequester? >> here we are the next day and i don't think the assessment is,

wow, that was a really powerful speech. >> there wouldn't have been this -- nobody would have talked about this. >> you're right. >> really excited to hear him mention climate change in a substantive way. >> people care about that issue. >> these are issues not addressed by -- voter suppression. the idea that he's going to have a bipartisan commission to use mitt romney's lawyer to look into it. and people were applauding her just for being alive and making it to 102. the speech came from the heart and touched upon important policy priorities especially if you're a member of the progressive left. >> absolutely. for the progressive left, it had standard laundry list that you'll see in a state of the union. but i do think there is some surprise, even in the white house, about the continued resonance of the continued gun issue. i think there's a soul search that went on after newtown.

i think after a week there was certainly the idea in the white house that this is going to see involve into the typical kabuki. and it did to some degree. i think the president himself seemed very surprised on what might be able to get done. again, it's a low bar, as chuck said. but still, the conversation continues. i also think the president hit a stride right after newtown. granted, it coincided with his re-election. a lot of people thought that was the best moment of his presidency. >> i agree with you -- he carries himself -- look, presidents are larger figures when they get re-elected. they just are because they're two-term presidents. you saw him walk into the room. there's a command of the room. there's a largeness to him. i agree with you, i think newtown -- >> at least my theory, part of it -- four things will at least happen regardless of how congress works or how the president operates. they will have sequestration. they will have a drawdown until

afghanistan. there will be a vote on policy, let's be honest. and they're going to debate immigration reform. what stuck me as interesting last night, how the president pushed all those things differently. sequestration, he was able to come to some difference on what the cuts would be. drawdown, he was going to do it in his own order. this is going to be the drawdown. gun policy, there was talk about that coming to a vote. and with immigration reform, it was so hands off. he didn't want to touch it -- felt like it was going to fall off -- >> from the republicans. >> he was tough to push hard on that. those are four different issue us all of which will very likely be felt next year. >> i didn't think it was incidencial speech, it would be supported. protection of the american safety net at the dispense of reduction. raising the minimum wage. preschool education for all. immigration reform.

housing help. fair pay for women. these closing tax loopholes effectively making taxes higher for the wealthy, that would be a radical change of america's social contract. he's not going to get all of these. >> you rarely get -- >> i thought the inclusion -- we haven't talked any detail about the minimum wage piece which i think was the sleeper part of the speech in so far as people didn't see that one comes, chuck. >> this time, he's proposed it as president. he proposed it first as a candidate and then sort of didn't talk about it. >> what it does, regardless of whether he actually gets the $9 an hour proposal, it puts republicans back in this corner where they're again the enemies of the middle class. >> this is the trap i think they set. this is the trap republicans fell into with clinton in '97. they used to make fun of the small bore things. and it's poll-tested. >> it's very well poll-tested.

>> minimum wage, universal precare. the high school race to the top equivalency scales. yes, it's government getting wolfed. he's talking about things that people worry about. education is a large part of it. it's about the economy, but it's about its connection to education. that's where the republicans, if they sit there and say, but he didn't talk about the debt, he didn't talk about the debt, they got to be careful. >> you wonder how it's about poll-testing this morning, joel bennett, the president's pollster was talking about climate change and how well they were polling. >> and it also forces john boehner to make statements like this. i've read this five times. a lot of people who are being paid the minimum wage are being paid that because they come to the workforce with no skills and

this, an increase in the minimum wage makes it harder for them to acquire the skills they need in order to climb that ladder successfully. as far as i can tell, the argument there is don't pay people more because it will make them lazy. this is the taker's maker thing. this is an extension of romne romney-ichl. ism. >> by the way, he talked about indexes the middle wage. i remember when mitt romney came out for this, and mitt romney came out he would be open for indexing the minimum wage. people close to paul ryan. i believe he did it after he picked paul ryan. and he went on larry kudlow, i saw larry kudlow last night, and said, hey, you know they're doing the indexes. i told larry that's bad policy. economic conservatives. for doing that. while the president is throwing it out there trying to give to

the public, hey, there's bipartisan -- there's really not. >> there are studies out there, small business group sponsor studies that suggested if you raise the minimum wage, you'll end up having fewer workers, predominantly lower skilled workers. there's a report that suggested $11 billion in one year in terms of increased wages for workers at that low end. the problem that boehner has it doesn't really touch on that. >> why not bring out the defense could be something that deprives people of jobs. >> yes, that would be smart. >> at some point in his press conference today, he did talk about this could hurt job creators but you end with this moral argument that the gop can't stay away because it's embedded in their outlook and fiscal policy. i will say to sam's point, economic policy what the white house cites in terms of raising the minimum wage. >> which is a liberal group.

>> it would lift pay for 28 million americans, increase gdp by $25 billion. and create are 100,000 more full-time jobs. the president is coming out speaking in asheville, north carolina, taking the podium. let us take a listen in. ♪ >> you're right, you should buy him a jacket. ♪ >> the president is pushing the manufacturing school academy here in asheville, north carolina. the first appearance since the state of the union. let's take a listen. >> it is good to be back. i love coming to asheville! i love coming to asheville. michelle and i always talk about

how, you know, if after this whole presidency thing -- we're looking for a little spot to -- yeah, come on down? play a little golf. do a little hiking. fishing. barbecue. there are two things that keep bringing me back here. number one is i really like the people. and number two is 12 bones which i'll be stopping at on the way back to the airport. i want to start out by thanking stremme for the wonderful introduction and what made it wonderful, not only did he do a great job, but he was really brief. and i also want to thank frank and jim and everybody at lenamar for hosting us and giving us this terrific tour of the plant. i want to point out two elected officials with us here today.

first of all, your mayor bellamy. where is mayor bellamy. good to see you. plus, you got a wonderful mayor i like that, too. also congressman mel watt is here. give congressman watt a big round of applause. so, last night, i delivered the state of the union address. and i talked about steps we can take right now to strengthen our recovery, but also to build up our middle class. and i said that, while we're seeing some signs of solid progress. you know, car sales are up, housing's starting to recover. we're still a ways away from where we need to be. there's still too many americans out there every day, they're pounding the pavement. they're looking for work. you guys probably know friends or family members who are still pretty strapped. having a difficult time.

sand while it's true that corporate profits have skyrocketed to an all-time high, it's also true that for more than a decade now, wages and incomes haven't gone up at all. just about. so we've got a lot of work to do. and our job, and this is a job for everybody, it's not a democratic thing or a republican thing. our job as americans is to restore that basic bargain that says, if you work hard, if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead. you can get ahead. it doesn't matter what you look like. it doesn't matter where you come from. that's what we should be focused on. how do we make sure the people who are willing to work hard can make a decent living and look after their family? because the true engine of america's economic growth has always been our middle class.

now, there are a lot of countries that have folks at the top who are doing real well. and a bunch of folks at the bottom. but part of what set america apart was, ordinary folks, if they worked hard, they could do well. our middle class, when it's growing, when it's thriving, when there are ladders of opportunity for people to do a little bit better each year, and make sure their kids are doing even better than them, that's the american dream. that's what we got to fight for. that has to be the north star that guides everything we do. and as i said last night, we should be asking ourselves three questions every single day. it doesn't matter whether you're north carolina or texas or california or oregon. doesn't matter. wherever we are, three things we should be asking. number one, how do we bring more jobs to america? number two, how do we equip people with the skills they need to do those jobs?

and number three, how do we make sure that once they have a job, it leads to a decent living? i believe we reward effort and determination with wages that allow working families to raise their kids and get ahead. and that's part of the reason why i said last night, that it's time for an increase in the minimum wage. because if you work full time, you shouldn't be in poverty. i also believe, we provide our people skills and training by investing in education, and that has to start early. it has to start early. yeah, i talked about making sure the kids are getting early childhood education. making sure that our high schools are preparing our children for a high-tech economy. and making sure that colleges are affordable and accessible to

every single american. and i believe we attract new jobs to america by investing in new sources of energy and new infrastructure, and the next generation of high-wage, high-tech american manufacturing. i believe in manufacturing. i think it makes our country stronger. so that's what we can do together. and that's why i wanted to come down here to asheville. because there's a good story to tell here. i know that a few years ago, manufacturing comebacks, you know, in north carolina, a manufacturing comeback in asheville may not have seemed real likely. because volvo had just left town. this plant had gone dark. 28 -- 22 -- 223 jobs had

vanished. and that was a big blow for this area because part of what happens is, when those manufacturing jobs go away, then suddenly, the restaurant has fewer customers. and suppliers for the plant start withering. and it's hard for everybody. it has a ripple effect. but then local officials start reaching out to companies, offering new incentives to take over this plant. some of the workers who got laid off, like scranton went back to school and they learned more skills. then a year later, lenamar are looking for a place to build big parts. and these parts are big, i'd say. wheels for 300-ton mining trucks. while they could have gone anyplace in the world, they saw

this incredible potential right here in asheville. they saw the most promise in this workforce, so they chose to invest in asheville, in north carolina, in the united states of america. so today, they've hired 160 workers. it will be 200 by the end of the year. and it's just going to keep ongoing after that. so folks at linamar said they came to asheville to grow their business. they came here to stay and put down some roots. and the good news is what's happening here is happening all around the country. because just as it's becoming more and more expensive to do business in places like china, america's getting more competitive and more product. and after shedding jobs for more than ten year, our manufacturers

have now added about 500,000 jobs over the past three years. and i mentioned this last night, caterpillar, which i know you guys supply, they're bringing jobs back from japan. ford is bringing jobs back from mexico. after placing plants in other countries like china, intel is opening its most advanced plant here in the united states. apple is starting to make macs in america again. so, we're seeing this trend what we call insourcing. not just outsourcing. and the reason is because america's got outstanding workers. we're starting to produce more homegrown energy which is driving down our energy costs. and obviously, we still got the biggest market in the world. and if we, you know, try to

improve our infrastructure a little bit more, then we're going to be even that much more competitive. now, i want to be honest with you, we're not going to bring back every job that's been lost to outsourcing and automation over the last decade. i was talking to some of the guys who were showing me their facilities who had been in manufacturing for 20 years. and, you know, they explained how things have changed. it used to be -- you wanted to do the kind of stuff you guys are doing here. everything was done manually. now, you've got a computer, and you're punching in stuff. so it's changed. and that means that you can just produce a lot more with fewer people. but there are things we can do right now to accelerate the resurgence of american manufacturing. number one, we can create more centers for high-tech manufacturing in the america.

last year, my administration created our first manufacturing innovation institute. we put it in youngstown, ohio, which had been really hard hit when manufacturing starts going overseas. so you had a once shuttered warehouse, it's now a state-of-the-art lab where workers are mastering what's called 3d printing which has a way to make everything. there's no reason those same projects can't take root in other cities and towns. last night, i announced the institution of three more institutes. i'm calling 0 congress to implement 15 more institutes, global manufacturing around the country. second thing we need to do is make our tax code more competitive. right now, companies get all

kinds of tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. but companies that stay here get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. that doesn't make any sense. so what i'm proposing is that we reform our tax code. stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas. reward companies that are creating jobs right here in the united states of america. that makes sense. number three, if you're a manufacturing town, especially one that's taken a hit, that's seen a company close up shop or a plant shut down, i want to partner with local leaders to help you attract new investment. because once that investment starts coming in, things can start turning around. that means infrastructure gets modernized. and research facilities get

built. suddenly a company that was down is now getting back up and attracts new manufacturers that wand to expand and hire. so i want to focus on -- in a place like asheville that lost the volvo plant, we want to come in here real quick and figure out, all right. what is it that we need to do do attract a new employer? number four, we've got to get our workers trained to compete for the industries of tomorrow. at least a couple of the guys that i had a chance to meet as we were taking the tour told me, they were out of work for a year, in one case, two years, in part because we kept unemployment insurance in place so folks could get back on their feet. they were able to go back to school. and now are gainfully employed. no job in america should go unfilled because somebody doesn't have the right skills to get that job. nobody.

so, if there's a job open, we should train those folks right away so they can do the job. and that's why i'm proposing a national goal of training, 2 million americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. and we know this works. you know, after linamar came to town, they started working with ab tech, one of the community colleges here in asheville. and a.b. tech and linamar worked together to do something that's really smart. rather than have kids -- or in some cases not kids, older workers show up and they're taking a bunch of classes but they don't know how this is going to directly lead to a job. what you do is you customize a class to train people so they can come and work at the plant. and they're getting experience that's directly applicable to

what's being done here. at the job. that's good for the community. it's good for linamar because they're getting workers who they know can do the job. it's good for the folks who go to the community college because they know if they work hard and do well in the class, there's a job waiting for them. it's good for the economy as always. so those are four common sense steps that we can take right now to strengthen manufacturing in america. there's no magic bullet here. it's just some common sense stuff. people still have to work hard. companies like linamar still have to make good products, but the point is, if we can just do a few things then over time, what happens is, we start rebuilding our manufacturing base in a way that strengthens

our economy as a hole. now, i'm doing what i can, just through administrative action, but i need congress to help. i need congress to do their part. i need congress to do their part. i need congress to take up these initiatives. because we've come too far, we've worked too hard to turn back now. you think about all this city and all of you have been through in the last few years. think about folks like jeff growl. now, jeff was in the trucking industry for over a decade. two years ago, he got laid off. lost his job as a diesel mechanic. that's a tough thing to go through even though jeff's a pretty tough guy. but he bounced back. he decided it was time for him to change careers. he decided it was time to get some new skills. he went to a.b. tech. took a class in automated machining, a few months ago,

jeff got his diploma, he graduated on a wednesday. interviewed at this plant on thursday. by friday, he was working as a machine operator. where's jeff? there he is right here. now, obviously, jeff's pretty good at interviews because, you know, he just got hired like that. i hope he can give me some advice. but here's the thing. the reason jeff did all of that, obviously, a lot of it was to support himself and his family. but it wasn't just to punch a clock at a new plant or pick up a paycheck from a new company. it was to make sure that he could have a better future for his family and for his community and his country. you know, jeff said, getting my foot in the door has opened my eyes to bigger horizons and i want to keep on going.

i want to keep on going. so, that's our story. that's the american story. we don't give up. we get up. we innovate. we adapt. we learn new skills. we keep going. and i just want everybody here to know at this plant, that everybody in asheville, everybody in north carolina, and everybody all across the country, i want you to know, as long as you're out here fighting every day to better your lives and to better the lives of your children, then i'll be back in washington fighting for you. i will be back there fighting for you. because there's nothing we can't do. and no possibilities we can't reach when we're working together. we just have to work together. we've got to stop with some of the politics that we see in washington sometimes that's

focused on who's up and who's down. let's just focus on the same kind of common sense and cooperation that we're seeing at this plant and we see all across the country. all right. so thank you, everybody. god bless you. and god bless america. thank you. that was president obama speaking to autoworkers in asheville, north carolina. katy and you and i were listening very intently, unlike some people. but this is the first of three stops. we know he's going to decatur, georgia tomorrow. on friday, chicago. decatur, he's expected to talk about education. unclear what's happening in chicago. he's visiting an academy there. but maybe some talk of gun violence. these three stops a mirror of the state of the union. >> and carrying on what he just did at the end of that speech in asheville which is basically appealing to the people he's speaking to over the heads of congress. listen, if congress can't get it done, i'm looking at executive

orders. with climate change. if they can't pass cap and trade and carbon tax, then i'm going to do what i can do in the white house. in a sense, that's what he's taken to north carolina and on to georgia and on to chicago. he's rallying the american public to support his proposals. the three different bits of there of his state of the union address. >> and proposals, mark, that conveniently poll-test well with the american congress. and congress hasn't done any work on drawing up the legislation. i want to play some sound from paul ryan this morning who is taking issue with the fact that the president is not in washington, and quote/unquote on the campaign trail. >> he's take to get road for the next few days in basically what i would call campaign mode. he seems to always stay in a campaign mode where he treats people of the other party as the enemy, not as partners. if he really wanted to get things down here and govern, he would come here and work with us, instead of campaigning all

around the country. >> okay. now -- if you were president obama, what would be the wisdom of staying in washington at this point? >> first of all, let's just say every president pretty much goes on the road after the state of the union address. if you remember right after president bush was re-elected he immediately went on the road are with the social security plan. >> over the head. >> same thing. >> right. literally the day after. >> right. >> now, look, sort of the other side of that is, the administration seems to be in a very confident mode. the president himself seems to be in a very confident mode. again, as he should be. he was just re-elected. his numbers are good. the congressional numbers are very, very bad. but i do think you have -- you hear early warnings of overreach. the bush example, again, social security was a good example, him laying out a very ambitious second term agenda.

there's not a lot of proof of that. >> i guess i go -- everybody is painting what obama is calling for as ambitious. he's actually -- there's small bore -- look, they would be big deals if they all got done and it would look ambitious if all of them got done. see, bush went for something, one big thing, and when he didn't get it, it was over. it was done. obama has put together a check list. he might get 35% of what he put out which wouldn't be -- >> but the fact is -- >> in baseball, that's not bad. >> that's not a bad batting average. and at this point in washington, you've got to sort of overreach in order to get something done. >> that's could be concluded. that is apparently what both sides believe now. that is the wrong way to govern. this is why we're in these impasses. this is a horrible thing. >> chuck, you were -- >> they have to go over the top on whatever the initial offer is on both sides. it's a stupid way to go. >> keep in mind, tax reform is

something that has bipartisan support. immigration is something that republicans have supported in the past. same with climate change. these are not highly partisan policy changes. >> but when you get to the deta details, they're highly partisan. climate change, there are big differences between what republicans want to do and conservationists want to do. >> yeah, but they're almost -- immigration reform. basically about a technicality of enforcement, right? when you can say the -- >> well, it has to pass citizenship. >> fine. it's not within the realm of suggesting it can't be worked out. on gun control, he knows that the most likely scenarios that you get a background check or a federal check. so he is tempering some of his legislative reach in some areas while shoot for the moon in some others. with respect to what paul ryan said, from my understanding,

this white house will say, look, we tried direct negotiations in washington with john boehner twice. it blew up each time. >> meanwhile, john boehner does not think the president has the guts to get it done which smacks, i'll say, of irony. unfortunately, we have to leave it there. and the swami is leaving the set. >> you and your nicknames. >> chuck todd. this is my bipartisan, like george h.w. bush's nickname for the press. i don't think the swami is a particularly bad one. >> that's okay, but that's chris berman. >> and inside of espn which is -- >> well, on twitter -- >> this is what happens when you have too many titles, chuck. >> or too many hats. >> that's the title, self-referencing. chuck, thank you as always for your time and expertise. >> look at your mugs. >> to "time" company to polar spring, marco rubio is the man of the message. not much is done about the

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low as fifteen dollars at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. in the short time i've been here in washington, nothing has frustrated me more than the choices the president has. >> water may have grabbed the headlines, but polar springs wasn't the only thing that marco rubio was reach for. the jindal-esque moment. in essence, the speech was government bad, private sector, good. >> no job is going to help you get ahead. it's going to hold you back. more government isn't going to create opportunities. it's going to limit them.

more government isn't going to inspire new businesses and new private sector jobs. >> meanwhile, the rebuttal to the rebuttal came from tea party senator rand paul who took democrats and republicans to task. >> it's often said, there's not enough bipartisanship up here. that's not true. in fact, there's plenty of bipartisanship. both parties are guilty of spending too much. of protecting their sacred cows, back room deals which everyone wins but every taxpayer loses. >> one rejection of everything washington. welcome, america, to our tri party democracy. joining the panel now, nbc luke russert. >> proud to be here. >> just in the building. >> you're not relieving chuck todd -- >> the handing of the baton. luke, let's talk about the rand

paul -- marco rubio first. he was just gracing the cover of "time." to do the state of the union. it's a blessing and a curse to paraphrase jay-z. the problems that he was having with water and hydration in general. >> let's first address the water thing, as somebody who often perspires on camera which is due to the intense heat that is given off by the lights. i've been in that room wheres he is, the speaker's ceremonial office. it can get hot in there. charlie crist walks around with a fan. marco rubio should emulate that. >> what i found interesting, it's off this gop matches the canter that it seems to be putting forward which is making america work for. you that we're not going to get in these budget battles. we want to try to move away from

this, you know, we're out to help the rich folks or the consumer protection bureau. we're in fact trying to save this democracy, this experiment that's worked so well for so many years so your children can have it and it looks nice. this is for the young guns. they did this. and it only has a short shelf life. look at the voting record. marco rubio, rand paul, the exact same voting record. the same scoring from heritage action, 96, i believe. how do you square the 96 from heritage action and then go out in the community and say, oh, let's rebuild this country. >> right. >> let's change things around. we're going to cut pell grants here and there. it's very difficult. >> i think we've been walking the walk and talking the talk.

i don't know that. but then as you watched the rand paul response, i thought it was actually remarkable in so far as it was ideologically consistent. it was very well delivered and it's going to create problems for the republican party. it's not good to have a rebuttal to the rebuttal but in terms of the gop. the fact that rand paul calls himself a republican and did so last night was interesting given the fact that he was out there ex score yating the republican party. >> well, let me defy mark's advice and lead with sequestration. >> sure. in the news. >> i appreciate it. you see what's happening with the debate right now which is that republicans who several months ago were talking about the sequestration was akin to the apocalypse in governing the military.

are now more and more accommodating, willing to accept the sequestration cuts to the military. the rand paul of the party, cuts are better than no cuts. to your point about rubio, it seems to me, the republican party internalized lessons from 2012 in we need to fix problems with hispanics. whether that means expanding hispanic politics, as long as we do that, everything else will stay fine. i'm not sure that's accurate. i think it will help them publicly but i think there's a large backlash against the type of policies that they put out wra with respect to taxing and spending and social projects. and with respect to women. we can't forget two hours before he gave that speech, he did vote against the violence against women act in the senate. >> and with immigration, looking back at what rubio said we need

a responsible solution to the problem of those here illegally. he didn't actually say i am in favor of a pathway to citizenship which he did more. >> he can't, right? i mean, these are almost untenable positions that these young are superstars of the gop are put in, mark. which is to say, they're elevated perhaps before they're even ready. and even if they are ready, what can you actually say about anything substantive? >> in fairness, this is actually what tripped up mitt romney and paul ryan. you know, paul ryan who has a big portfolio and track record on these issues was basically rendered mute during the campaign. one, he had daylight between he and romney. two, they were going to lay out what the plans were to cut the deficit like they said. so i do think -- i would say i disagree with sam in that i think they've internalized more

than just a latino only problem. and thus, they're putting out rubio. i think it's a combination of demographics. finding new spokesmen. i think they actually had a mitt romney/john mccain/george h.w. bush problem that they're trying to address. they have not given up on the fiscal message. that was effective in 2010. it was also very effective for john mccain at the end of the campaign. it does resonate with the republican base. and actually with some swing voters on income equality and redistribution of wealth. >> well, i want to ask what is the opinion of rand paul up on the hill? he is not going away. i remember going to those campaign rallies when his father was running, the guy that had the broadest coalition and the coalition that the gop needs for the future was rand paul. young hippies for vermont.

there's nothing wrong with hippies i was a former hippy. >> these are hipsters now. >> there is energy behind that rand paul message which rand paul has adopted. >> i think i ask the question of the gop moving forward. mitch mcconnell originally tried to beat paul. he is the opposite of the establishment. the establishment has warmed to him publicly because they're forced to. i know internally they do not care for him he's kind of become the new jim demint. he's a thorn in their side. he's the type of guy that would worry about the 30-hour rule. the filibuster. that you could sink something at any minute. they don't like that. but i think what he represents is a wing of the gop that's going have to be catered to during the 2016 primaries. and who is the person to bring them together? we all thought it might be marco rubio. the voting record may be too extreme for rubio.

christie, if i would have been anywhere, it would be have been the biltmore hotel. is he the one that can do the rand paul parts and the will he? that's the establishment that could. >> i just like hanging out at the biltmore hotel period. coming up, cabinet filibuster threats and domestic violence, obstructionism, are republicans their own worst enemies? we seem to be asking that question a lot. we will take a look just ahead. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ] i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough.

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prior to the state of the union last night, the senate passed a reauthorization of the violence against women act by a vote are of 78-22. the legislation still facing an uphill climb committee gop-led house. unless the senate getting representation for functionality

and bipartisanship, republicans kept themselves busy securing defense secretary chuck hagel. it began when freshman senator proposed that maybe hagel was beloved by iran. okay, katty, what -- north korea is conduct oing -- >> there's no foundation to it. but you put it out there and you hope there's some traction to it. >> ted cruz doesn't have a bone to pick with chuck hagel. but this is mccain being angry -- >> about contain stood up at the end of that and said we shouldn't besmirch chuck hagel with what is happening. >> on that point, there is threatened a walkout on this committee vote. i'm told by folks, there are folks like mccain, the older

guard saying to younger republicans do not do. that. >> mickey did not vote for hagel. it's complete insanity here. >> no one commenting on whether he would make a good secretary of defense or not. >> or asking relevant questions. >> i actually do think maybe a larger question, ted cruz and rand paul, you sort of look at them together, this is an emerging wing of new republican senators. you look at ryan and rubio on the hill as the new leaders but this is a very significant and potentially a very dangerous part of the republican party, within the party. especially if rand paul runs for president. >> look at the violence against women act passed 78-22 because there's still mention of

bipartisanship in luke didn't that set the stage for further intraction in the one semifunctioning part of congress? >> oh, sure. i don't want to disagree with you on that. i also think interesting on that point, the house has sort of taken a backseat to the senate saying let the senate work on everything and make a decision on whether they're going to move forward. on the violence against women act, i think they're forced to move forward because of the bipartisan fashion. so now there's a letter from 18 past republicans telling their leadership to move forward on the violence against women act. i think there's something to be said about that number. but you'll see the opinions of guys like cruz, see opinions of guys like rand paul. and then you'll see their house counterparts which is probably a good majority of the house. but if it comes out of the senate first, i think that forced the moderate hand. >> you can see the legislation

working. if it comes out with a big number, you'll see that. >> back to your point. i think there's a difference in paul voting and senator ted cruz playing c-span clips where chuck hagel didn't, you know, correct the questioner. which is theatrics. >> yes. >> and it detract from the process. and i think the more you -- i think eventually, over time, you're going to see more episodes like what happened with john mccain where people are basically worried about the institution telephone. >> or ted nugent last night. the same concept. >> well, let ted nugent in -- it's a wrap. i don't even -- it's not really a wrap. it's still -- congress is still there. >> that was a weird guest. >> that was -- maybe not the latter choice but steve stockman. okay. that's all for us here. >> do i have time -- >> you have a present? >> i have a present. you dog me as being a

aficionado -- >> how about that? >> wow, thank you for mark, katty, luke and sam. this hat is incredible. i'll see you back in new york city. noon eastern, with steve, ezra, maggie reed, and actor chris note. until then find us at facebook.com/now. "andrea mitchell reports" is comes up next. [ cellphone beeps ]

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